


The Buddha Says, Death Is A Part Of Life

by pulangaraw



Series: There Are No Rocks, But Everyone Dies Anyway [2]
Category: Life, Standoff
Genre: Deathfic, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-18
Updated: 2012-06-18
Packaged: 2017-11-08 00:56:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/437371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pulangaraw/pseuds/pulangaraw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Buddha Says, Death Is A Part Of Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Caers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caers/gifts).



> This is a **DEATHFIC**. Most characters die in various ways! Please heed this warning before reading on further!
> 
> Notes: Written for Caers, because it was her bday sometime in the past and she is awesome and loves deathfic and I had an idea and then Torra had an idea and things got going from there. 
> 
> Due to the nature of the fic, it has not been checked for typos or strange phrasings by anyone but me. If you read it, please feel free to point out anything I missed.

Ted Earley

Ted was never supposed to get caught up in all of this, but Charlie needed Ted. He needed him to look after his money, he needed him for his secrets, and most of all he needed him for his sanity. So when Ted died, Charlie didn’t quite know what to do. The worst of it was, maybe, that Ted didn’t even die because of Charlie.

Charlie had sometimes wondered what he’d do if Ted got killed by Nevikov or Rayborn’s people and he’d had a plan. He’d had a Zen plan that he knew he would have discarded in a heartbeat if any of his scenarios had actually come to pass. But it hadn’t happened that way and now Charlie was left without a plan and without Ted, nothing but the hard facts and no real idea of how to cope. He just sat in his big empty house, feeling too big and empty himself and not even the Buddha had anything helpful to say.

Turns out that Reese did. She showed up in the early hours of the morning, the day after the funeral, a bottle of vodka in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. She just let herself in and sat down next to Charlie at the kitchen island. She opened the bottles and pushed the vodka in front of him. He took a swig straight from the bottle and she followed suit with her own. They matched each other swallow for swallow, Charlie with vodka, Reese with water.  
When half of his bottle was empty, she took it away from him, pulled him off the stool and led him upstairs. She lay him down in his big empty bed and slid under the covers next to him.

“Sleep,” she said, “You’ll continue living tomorrow.”

And he did.

 

Dani Reese

Tidwell called him from the hospital. There was a long pause before he said, voice raw and broken, “She’s gone.”

Charlie buried his head in his hands and let Matt wrap his arms around him.

After a while he went and got the bottle of vodka he kept hidden in the kitchen cupboard.

“Get drunk with me?” He said.

Matt nodded.

“We’ll continue living tomorrow,” Charlie promised her memory.

 

Emily Lehman

“Emily, get down!” Matt yelled, but it was already too late.

The explosion ripped apart the front of the building and debris smashed into the ground around them with deadly force. People screamed, ducked, ran and crawled for cover. Matt stared at the spot where Emily had just been. Dust and smoke filled the air, the fire backlighting the scene with a flickering glare. It was hard to see anything clearly.

When it was clear that there wouldn’t be another explosion, Matt moved towards where he’d seen her last.

“Please,” he muttered to himself, “please, please...”

He found her curled up on the ground. She’d been standing too exposed to not get hit by the blast or broken pieces, but Matt was still hoping that it might only be minor injuries. Sometimes people got lucky. Sometimes people survived the most unbelievable things.

Mostly, though, people died.

Emily didn’t beat the odds.

It was days later when Matt resurfaced from his grief long enough to look at Charlie properly. He’d been there with Matt the entire time, for everything, and he’d not said much. No more than absolutely necessary.

Now Matt looked at him, asked, “You got anything helpful to say?”

Charlie gave him one of his cryptic smiles. “The Buddha says, if you get angry you stop looking for the truth.”

Matt nodded, this one he got. “I’ve been angry. Have you been looking for the truth?”

“I’ve found it.”

 

Matt Flannery

Thirty-four years is a long time to get to know someone. Charlie had thirty-four years to get to know Matt. Matt had sometimes wondered if Charlie would ever get tired of knowing him. Charlie never did. It took Matt twenty years to believe him, but in the end he did. After all, Matt never got tired of knowing Charlie.

When Matt’s heart finally gave out, the pain was less sharp than Charlie had imagined. After all, they’d had thirty-four years. They’d said all the things they’d wanted to say, done most of the things they’d wanted to do. Back when they’d first met, Charlie hadn’t even thought he’d make it through the rest of the year. Matt had helped with that. Matt had given him thirty-four years of his life and Charlie could let him go now.

Charlie could wait until they’d meet again.


End file.
